Week 18

Hello Everyone!

I can't believe we are halfway through July! I feel like it was just the beginning of July! So crazy!!!

What a great week we've had (well, at least from Thursday on =] )! There are so many stories I'd love to tell, but I think I'll just pick a few, since I don't think anyone wants to read a novel =]

Stories of the week!

*Finding Formers*

*Stake Young Men/Young Woman's Activity*

*Nail Painting Activity*

*Our hilarious recent convert, Tiffany*

*Our incredible investigator/soon-to-be-recent convert, Melody*

*Out of area adventure!*

*New Investigators!*

Hold on for the ride, here come the stories!

*Finding Formers*

We (my companion and I) have been very diligent the last few weeks in trying to find investigators, since without someone to teach, being a missionary is very boring. Well, the things we've been doing have not been leading us to any investigators. And so, we decided to look at old teaching records (when you teach someone, you fill out a record so that you know what's been taught, etc, etc) and we pulled out some that had addresses so we could just go visit them. We started out on Thursday night and we visited a few houses, and the last one was a husband and wife. They were home, remembered who the missionaries were, and they kindly let us in. We visited with them for a bit, shared a short message and the said we could come back! Yay! We were so excited and so grateful! The next day we found two formers, and while they weren't as interested, they listened to our message and we hope we rekindled something in them to help to prepare them to receive the gospel.

*Stake Young Men/Young Woman's Activity*

We've been hearing about this activity for weeks now. Rumor had it that young men and women were going to be coming and doing missionary work with us. We were told that on Saturday from 9-4 we would have 6 young girls with us doing missionary work! We were freaking out because that is a lot of girls, a lot of time, in a small area! We got to the activity and discovered that we really only had 2 girls coming with us, thye could ride bikes, and it wasn't completely from 9-4. Long story short, it went really well, the area we went to go tracting was great and almost every house had people home, so they were able to talk to people, and so it was all just really great! The girls were so brave and such great missionaries! It was also fun to see some other missionaries that we don't often see.

*Nail Painting Activity*

My companion and I have been planning a nail painting party for a while. We wanted to have an activity that would get sisters in the ward together and our recent converts and investigators could get to know people and become closer with the ward. We were excited, but then realized that none of our investigators or recent converts could come...zao gao (like...oh man!). So we really weren't sure how it would go, nor how many people were actually going to come. As it turns out, we had one recent convert come, four sisters from the ward, and 3 investigators! It was great! One investigator is the one we met last week and her kids, and we think they had a great time. The other two (a couple) had walked into the church about 10 minutes before it started. The guy had met some elders on the street and they invited him to come take a tour of the church. There weren't any elders there at the time, but we took them on a mini-tour and invited them to stay for the activity, and they did! It was so great. So, yes, it was small, but we had some great fellowshipping going on, and I was super grateful! I also got to play with kids for most of the night, so I was thrilled =]]

*Our hilarious recent convert, Tiffany*

Oh, Tiffany! I love her! She is so funny! The long story short is that, she is Taiwanese but her chinese is horrible. She came to our activity and wanted to know what missionaries can and can't do. After talking to her about it, she eventually just asked if she could read our missionary handbook, so I gave it to her, and she loved it =] A pregnant lady from another ward had come to vacuum the church in hopes of inducing labor, and Tiffany just could not let her vacuum because she is pregant! So Tiffany vacuumed the entire church and was just loving it! I don't think she'd ever vacuumed in her life =] So anyway, those are just some funnies about Tiffany. She is so great and she has such an incredible testimony!

*Our incredible investigator/soon-to-be recent convert, Melody*

Oh Melody! What can I say about her! She is incredible! She is getting baptized this coming Saturday and we couldn't be happier!!! We were a bit nervous because we hadn't finished teaching her all her all the doctrine she needed to be taught before getting baptized. But we had given her some pamphlets to read and she read them. She called us last Friday and she had had an incredible experience! She felt like this Saturday was too soon to get baptized, but we told her to go home and pray about it. When she was reading one of the pamphlets, she was reading about repentence and finally understood what it was and that she needed to repent and be baptized and that this was the true church and it was what she wanted in her life! It was just such an incredible experience and I'm so grateful I've been able to be a part of helping her to get to know the church. She had her baptismal interview on Sunday and passed and is all ready to get baptized on Saturday! We are so excited! I will tell you all about it next week!!!

*Out of area adventure!*

Today we went with our recent convert, Sara, to this really cool country-club like place and we had so much fun! It wasn't in our area, and so we had to get permission to go, but our zone leaders said that was fine. We took a bus and a taxi there, and then just a taxi back home. The place is called Monseur and its a little village like thing that is super, uber cute and has a few little shops. It is in the mountains and so it was super beautiful! We had so much fun taking pictures and I was so excited to take pictures! I wish I had had my professional camera with me, but it was all still good =] We were there for about 1 1/2 hours and it was just fun! I hadn't been anywhere fun yet, and so this was something fun to go do.

*New Investigators*

We finally have a few new investigators and are super grateful! I already mentioned the mom and kids, and the husband and wife. We also have another girl, the only sad thing is her dad already said she can't be baptized, and so she is going to have to wait a few years till she is old enough to be baptized without parental permission. I don't know her very well, but I'm excited to meet with her!

Well, I think that is about all! We had a great week, and I have high hopes for this week! I included a few pictures and I hope you all enjoy!

#1: People at our nail painting party!

#2: Me and our investigators son; he painted my nails for me =]

#3: Me and my companion and two little statues at the country club that looked like sister missionaries =]

















#4: Beautiful Taiwan mountains!

#5: Sara, Sis. Lee and Me

#6: Sis. Lee and I =]

#7: Sara brought bubbles and this was my favorite picture that I took. Sis. Lee was loving the bubbles!

#8: Me by the gate =]

I hope you all are doing well! I love you all and am so grateful for all your love, prayers and support!!!

Week 16 and 17 (Sorry about more delays!)

Ge wei di xiong jie mei! (Every brother and sister...thats what people say in church when they say like, Good afternoon brothers and sisters =] )

 

Well, I am officially on my second move call! (a move call is a 6 week period where you are in one area and with one companion (usuallly); every six weeks there is a possibility that you could move areas or get a new companion). I am still staying in Beiqu since I am technically still being "trained" (whatever that means =] ). This is my companions last move call, so we are going to try and make it the best!

 

Not a whole lot happened this week. It was a slow week. We only have two investigators right now, and really, only one of them is actually progressing. Both have July 21 baptismal goals though, and one will for sure hit that, not sure on the other though.

 

The week went by incredibly fast. Thursday was our weekly planning (normally its on Friday) because today is move-calls, so it has to be done in case you are training (which we knew we weren't) but everyone in the mission just does it on the same day, so Thursday it was. Then Friday we had two sisters come and stay with us for the weekend because their companions were training. So it was so crazy! We were in a 4-sister companionship! We actually "fen kai gong zuo" = split up the work. So Friday Sis. Liston and I went and did missionary work and Sis. Lee and Sis. Luo went and did missionary work. It was crazy that I was "da tong ban" = senior companion, for a day (well two...) and then Saturday we switched and Sis. Luo and I went out chuaning the jiao (being missionaries...) and Sis. Lee and Sis. Liston went together. And then Sunday we were all together. It was fun, but crazy! I am grateful that I know my area and am (for the most part) confident in my abilities to be a missionary without my senior companion. It was a neat experience.

 

Other fun things:

*Calling phones like crazy trying to add new investigators

*Musical Fireside

*Three Sacrament Meetings

*Phase 1 COMPLETE!

 

Here we go!

*Calling phones like crazy trying to add new investigators*

We asked our zone leaders how they add people (adding a person is when you set up a time to meet with them, and you haven't already met with them before). They suggested calling dead stacks (which are contact cards that missionaries got from people that didn't go anywhere) but we don't have any dead stacks because the Beiqu sisters just recently moved into the apartment we are in now, and somewhere along the way the dead stacks never made it with them. So they suggested calling old APR's (we write APR's every week...its just a record of who we need to call every day and who are investigators or potential investigators are, when we have scheduled to meet with them, notes, what they've been taught, etc). We do have tons of those, so we started calling APR's from 2009/2010. And the crazy thing is some of them are from a Sis. Busath! I knew that a few years ago another Sis. Busath had served in Taichung, but I didn't know she was in this area!! So that's been fun! We are also going to try and reactivate some of the people she baptized. The other cool thing is some of them are from a friend of mine who also served in this area and I didn't know she served in Beiqu either! So that has been a lot of fun! The only bummer is...we haven't added anyone from the (literally) hundreds of phones we've called this week. BUT! We are going to be diligent and have faith that something will come of it, either now or later.

 

*Musical Fireside*

Our district has been practicing a song for this musical fireside for about a month. We unknowingly got signed up for it, and its been a bit stressful. We found out we were singing it with other missionaries in our zone, and it turned out so great! We didn't think it was going to be all that big of a deal-fireside, and we were lame about inviting people to it, but it was so amazing! We felt really bad we didn't get more people to come. It was also a super fun bike ride there. We were getting ready to leave and saw the zone leaders ride by, so we quickly caught up to them since they knew exactly where they were going and we didn't really have a clue. So that was fun. And then we practiced, ate dinner, performed and rode back. We were not sure we could get home alone in the dark, so we once again followed the zone leaders home and it was such a fun bike ride! The zone leaders ride crazy fast and so we were biking like mad sisters to keep up with them! I had never biked so fast or so hard in my life! It was crazy fun though. And we were super appreciative that they were willing to let us follow them home =]

 

*Three Sacrament Meetings*

Yesterday was the longest Sunday! I am so grateful that my area covers only one ward because yesterday we went to sacrament meeting 3 times, and then Sunday School and Relief Society. I was so antsy to get out of the church! It was hard because I still "ting bu dong" = hear but don't understand, what is being said in sacrament meeting. And the members in our ward feel like they need to give talks when they bear their testimonies, so they were long, but it was still good =]

 

*Phase 1 COMPLETE!!!!!*

I finished my phase 1 yesterday! I had one lesson left to pass off with my district leader, and then the final evaluation to pass off with my zone leaders. So I started about 6:30, finished the lesson one at 7, and then we found out we were having ward correlation at 7:30. I was worried about the final evaluation taking so long and not really wanting to be at the church past 9, so the zone leaders came over right then and we started, stopped then finished. One of my zone leaders, Elder Hermansen, said, I want this to be as quick as possible. I said, its up to you whether this goes late or not. He was super chill and we just quickly went through and finished it all. We did have to continue after ward correlation, but it was still super easy. He said my accent has gotten really good, and he said that while I may not always have the vocabulary I need, I can almost always say what I want to say. So that was pretty awesome. And now I can start learning characters and words that are not gospel related! Yay for being able to understand people better!

Celebratory Smores!

All done!!!!! Yay!

 

Well, sorry this past week was a little lame. Nothing big happened, but we are expecting miracles this move-call! Because, when you expect things, they happen right =]

 

I love you all! Thank you for your love and support!

--

Sis. Busath

Taiwan Taichung Mission

#498-11 Wu Chuan Road

Taichung, 404-46

Taiwan

 

http://www.sisterbusath.blogspot.com/

 

 

WEEK 17

Hello!

Just beware...the space bar on this keyboard is broken so its taking a long time to type, so I don't know how long this letter will be.....

 

We had a very slow week here in Beiqu. Not a lot happened, and our numbers were super low. We picked up two potential investigators and we still have one solid investigator. We have a few good stories though!

 

Stories below:

*Crazy Preacher Man*

*Eating Chicken*

*Church members from Mainland China*

*4th of July Day Celebration...*

*New potential investigator*

*Update on our incredible investigator*

 

 

*Crazy Preacher Man*

So last Tuesday, we were in the church parking lot trying to decide where to eat for lunch. Our zone leaders came up and the 4 of us started talking about different places to eat around here.One of the elders suggested Subway and Sis. Lee and I were like, yes! The elders weren't thrilled because that's where they wanted to eat (we can't go eat together). Sis. Lee said no worries, there are two subway's in our area, so we could go to one and they could go to the other. So off we go. We get there and this American man is ordering sandwhiches. He kept talking about his wife, and I imagined her to be Taiwanese, but when she came, she was American too. He kind of got upset when paying because he thought it should all be cheaper. Anyways, they go upstairs to eat, we pay and go upstairs as well. We pass their table and they are praying before eating. Interesting...So after we finished eating, the husband had gone to use the restroom and Sis. Lee said she wanted to invite the wife to church. I didn't feel all that great about it, but I just attributed it to them being white, and we rarely ever talk to white people...So she starts to talk to her and we find out they've been here for 6 years. She said they already had a church, and that her husband is a preacher in Mandarin....uh, ok...(not to be mean or prideful or bragging, but I've been on island 7 weeks and my chinese is better than his....I'm curious how many people come to his church...). Anyway, at that moment he walks up and sits down and says, I want to be honest with you, I don't think that you can be saved in your church because you don't know who Christ is...oh no. Not the kind of conversation I want to get into. But Sis. Lee does great, defends our beliefs, and after about 5 minutes of listening to him tell us that we don't know who Christ is, we are able to leave...peacefully. So that was fun. We don't experience that from the Taiwanese. Even if they are already Christian, they are never rude or disrespectful of our beliefs. I don't think I could have served in America!

 

*Eating Chicken*

So in Taiwan we don't eat much meat. Last Monday I was craving chicken so bad because I was so deprived of meat! There is a place at the mall where you can order a whole chicken. So to celebrate having finished Phase 1, Sis. Lee and I went! And we ate a whole chicken by ourselves! And it was SOOOOOOO good! I still crave meat and cheese, but it was so stinkin' good!

 

 

Our chicken before we ate it...

Our chicken after we ate it! SO GOOD!

 

*Church members from Mainland China*

On Thursday night, we were at the church with one of our recent converts, and this group of people walked in. They were all dressed up really nice and I didn't know who they were. Come to find out they were from Mainland China! So all of us missionaries talked with them for a bit, and then they went into the chapel. We weren't sure if they were LDS or not, but come to find out they are! They all heard about the church one way or another and are now members of the church in Mainland China. It was so super cool! One was baptized in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, it was just so super cool! Then all the missionaries were talking about the day that Mainland China opens up for missionary work! It will be such an incredible day and we all can't wait!

 

*4th of July Day Celebration...*

Ok, this is anti-climatic...Our celebration was going to eat at Subway =] And then we had English class. Which I was not thrilled about. I was so frustrated with my kids the previous week because they don't listen, don't participate, and just talk to each other in Chinese every week, that I told them if they weren't going to listen and participate, then don't come. So during our English meeting I was begging the elders to take my kids class. Earlier in the week I had even fixed two pairs of pants and a shirt for one of the zone leaders (that's another story...one pair of pants and the shirt were an easy fix...the other pair he had ripped on both sides of the seam, but I was able to take it in and fix it, and while it puckers a little bit, it looks pretty dang good! I wish I had taken a picture of it...) and was going to pull that card, but decided that I'd just make a new rule that if you were 11 and over, you had to go to one of the other classes. And low and behold, all 5 of my students who came were 11 and older! So they all went to Sis. Lee's class =] So I just called phones, and I was so happy I didn't have to teach English! So that was our 4th of July =]

 

*New Potential Investigator*

As I said, this was a very slow week, and we really didn't see much happening. Every day we've spent a few hours going through the ward list visiting less-actives. On Friday night we were doing that, but we couldn't find these two addresses, so we decided to tract. The very last house, a mom and her two little kids had just gotten home. We stopped and talked with them, and turns out she had met the missionaries last year and she wanted to meet with them but was just too busy. She said it was fate that she met us because she wants her kids to grow up going to church. She invited us into her house and we visited with her for a minute and were able to pray with her and set up a time to go visit with her tomorrow! I am so excited! She also called on Saturday night about coming to church on Sunday, but she never came =[ I still have hope!'

 

*Melody!!!*

Oh Melody, our golden, self-taught, investigator! She is so incredible! We met with her on Saturday, which was the first time we'd seen her in a week and a half! She came to a baptism and she loved it! She thought it was so great and she was like, I can't wait to get baptized! We told her what still needed to happen before she could get baptized. We reminded her that her goal was in 2 weeks! She was like, no! That's too fast! But we told her she was really prepared. Part of what she still has to do was come to church twice, which meant she had to come to church the next day, and then the next Sunday. So when 2 came around and she still wasn't at church, I was super nervous! I called her and she finally came around 2:30, but was able to stay for all of church. We met with her after for 1 1/2 hours!!! We taught her all the commandments and she thinks they are great and readily accepted them. We will start teaching her over the phone as well. We haven't even taught her about the Plan of Salvation or the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but we went through all the baptismal interview questions with her and she was able to answer all of them and her testimony is incredible! She knows how to receive revelation through church, prayer and the Book of Mormon and has experienced it all herself without us ever talking to her about it. She is just incredible! July 21 is her baptismal date! I can't wait!

 

 

So thats about it! It was a slow week, but those few experiences were so great! I love being here in Taiwan and am adjusting well and trying to find my little groove in missionary work.

 

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!

 

I've included a few pictures, including ones of where I live, since I'm lacking in the picture department this week.....

 

 

Our kitchen and study area. When you walk into our apartment, this is what you see. Right past our desks in the hallway. We have three bedrooms and a bathroom.

 

 

Our desks

 

 

Our bedroom. It is super small. Just big enough to have our two beds. We have a big bedroom that we use as our wardrobe room and our guest bedroom. We don't sleep in there because there is no AC. The third bedroom is the junk/storage room.

The view off our balcony into our courtyard. We walk through the building in front to get to our buiding. Its a super nice little area!

 

So there you go! I hope everyone is doing well! I love you all and am so grateful for your love, prayers and support! I feel it every day!
--

Sis. Busath

Taiwan Taichung Mission

#498-11 Wu Chuan Road

Taichung, 404-46

Taiwan

 

http://www.sisterbusath.blogspot.com/

Week 15 !

Hello all!!!

What an incredible week! From two exchanges this week to two different areas to learning lots, passing evaluations (I passed my Lesson 4, Phase 1 Evaluation! Only one more lesson then the final pass-off with my zone leaders!) and a BAPTISM! this was probably my favorite week so far as a missionary!!!!

So, I'm leaving the baptism till last, since its the best =]

Events of the week:
*Exchange #1 to Tanzi with Sis. Fitzpatrick

*"Typhoon"

*Meeting where I got to see my elders from the MTC!

*Exchange #2 to WuFeng with Sis. Bryce

*New Missionaries coming!!

*Investigator Updates

*Week A Drop-in BAPTISM!

Here we go!

*Exchange #1 to Tanzi with Sis. Fitzpatrick!*

So the exchange happened at 10 AM on Tuesday morning. It was sister exchanges, so the assistants assigned us out and it wasn't only within our zone. I got to be with Sis. Fitzpatrick in Tanzi! If you remember, I had gone to Tanzi the week before, and it wasn't my favorite place, so I wasn't as happy to go back. But, I figured the Lord wanted to humble me, so I went happily =] And this time I was staying the night, and since it's a 4-man (meaning, two companionships) apartment, I knew we were bound to have a good night! And it turned out to be so great! It was raining because there was a "typhoon" coming, but nothing too crazy. We taught some lessons, I got to see one of the elders from my district in the MTC (that was so fun!) and we just had a whole bunch of fun! I loved it and it ended up being a really good experience.

* "Typhoon" *

So all day on Tuesday everyone was telling us, be careful! There is a typhoon coming! We were like, ok, cool. They said it was coming on Tuesday, but then that changed to Wednesday. So Wednesday came, we exchanged back from companion exchanges, and Sis. Lee was like, ok, we have a lot of English records to go through (when someone comes to English for the first time, they fill out a registration sheet). So she said, lets go home and organize and call as many as possible since there is a "typhoon" coming. So we did. And we felt super accomplished. And while it did rain a ton, and there was some crazy wind, lightning and thunder, it wasn't actually a typhoon, but just a small tropical storm. The crazy rain and such only lasted about an hour, but it did rain all day. And we still had english that night, but I didn't have any kids in my class come and Sis. Lee didn't have any people in her class. So she went to beginner English to accompany and get to know one of our new investigators and I called formers (people who were once our investigators) for 1 1/2 hours. While I only added one person (meaning we set up a time with them or they said they'd come to church - this lady said she'd come to church) I did give the elders 3 or 4 referrals, so that was good.

*Meeting where I got to see the elders from my MTC district!*

So on Friday after weekly planning but before exchanges #2, we had a meeting with all us "new" missionaries that the missionary department asked our mission president to have. And so, I got to see the three elders that came to Taiwan from my district in the MTC! I was so beyond excited to see them! I see one, Elder Terry, quite frequently as we are in the same zone, and I had just seen Elder Plate earlier last week, but I hadn't seen Elder Buckwalter since arriving on island, so it was so fun! Granted, we didn't get to really sit around and chat and see how everyone is doing, it was still really great to see them and to hear a few experiences about what's been going on in their different areas. I love those elders!

*Exchange #2 to WuFeng with Sis. Bryce*

So, normally, you don't have exchanges twice in a week, but I got lucky! This exchange was a Zone Scramble, so everyone in our whole zone (except our zone leaders) switched companions! It was way fun! I love Sis. Bryce and was so excited to be going with her. We started the scramble out with a Dan Jones and it was hai hao (like, ok...) We didn't have much time because Sis. Bryce and I needed to get back to our area, but it was still fun =] While it was an amazing exchange because I learned so much from Sis. Bryce, it was kind of lame because we left at 7 PM on Friday and exchanged back at 1 PM on Saturday. So we visited one less active on Friday night and then visited one less active on Saturday morning. We had studies till 10:30 Saturday morning and then had to leave by 12 to get back to the exchange, and lunch was before that. But, like I said, I learned a lot not about missionary work from Sis. Bryce and I'm super grateful I had the opportunity to be with her!!

*New Missionaries are COMING!*

This week! On Wednesday night! I am so excited because my beloved Sis. Taylor is coming! She was my companion for 12 days in the MTC and I adore her so much! I cannot wait to see her on Thursday when we do Dan Jones!!!!! And of course, seeing all the other amazing missionaries who were my "younger siblings" in the MTC =] It will be so fun! I'll tell all about it next week!

*Investigator Updates*

So we currently have two investigators who are progressing and have baptismal goals. They are Melody and June (we gave them those names =] ). Melody is so great, but we haven't seen her since last Sunday and she wasn't able to come to church yesterday. But, I'm not worried. Then June is our new investigator. She is a friend of one of our recent converts and she has a lot of potential. Joining the church would be a huge lifestyle change for her, but she came to church for a little bit yesterday and she has started reading the Book of Mormon. We are so excited to see what happens with her!

*Week A Drop-in Baptism!!!!!*

So, to start with, what is a Week A Drop-in? Well, when we give people baptismal goals, we give them a Week A, B, C, D, E, F or sometimes G name. This letters correspond with how far out their baptismal goal is. So, when you have a Week A drop-in, or someone who is potentially a Week A Drop-in, it is someone who is prepared to get baptized (they've had all the lessons, are keeping the commandments, have been to church 3 times and passed their baptismal interview) but for whatever reason have not, or don't want to get baptized.

So I've mentioned before about Tiffany. She was a referral to us from another sister companionship because she had moved to our area. The other sisters had already taught her all the lessons, she just needed a baptismal interview and to come to church a few times in our area (though she had already been to church 3 times). So she came to church the first Sunday we knew her, and then we couldn't get a hold of her all week because her phone was always off. And then, she randomly showed up for a baptismal interview that wasn't scheduled, but because the Lord knew that would happen, our Zone Leaders just happened to be at the chapel she showed up to (which wasn't their chapel) and they were able to do it for her. She passed and just needed to work on a few things. So, we planned on seeing her at church last Sunday but she didn't show up, so we figured she wouldn't be able to be baptized this past Saturday because she had only been to our ward for 1 hour. We tried all week to get a hold of her, but her phone was always off. We had her address, so finally on Thursday night we biked over to her house. We knew she wouldn't be home, so we wrote her notes and gave them to her guard to put in her mailbox. Friday was sister exchanges, and when I got back on Saturday, Sis. Lee was like, we got a hold of Tiffany! We are meeting with her at 3! So we planned a lesson and what to do if she hadn't been doing what she needed and whether she really could get baptized on Sunday or not. So when we met with her, she had been doing everything she needed to, and so the assistants said she could get baptized the next day since she had already been to church three times! We were thrilled! And even cooler was that her mom was going to be coming!!! So we got everything all set up, resolved a few more concerns that she had, and decided that it would actually be best for her to go to the English International Branch because she was taught all in English and doesn't understand the Chinese gospel words, and her chinese speaking ability isn't that great. She was totally fine with that. So come Sunday, I went to the English branch with her (it was so nice to hear church in English!) and she LOVED IT! Her baptism was right after church, and she got baptized with two little girls from the English branch. She was just beaming. Her mom made it and her mom loved it and was so excited to see Tiffany get baptized. This was her mom's first time at church and even though the baptismal service was all in English, she still loved it. We feel like she is very, very prepared as well and we can't wait to get missionaries over to her house as well!

Tiffany and her Mom before her baptism

Elder Badger, Tiffany and Elder Hermansen (our Zone Leaders and Elder Badger obviously baptized Tiffany =] )

Elder Badger, Tiffany and Elder Hermansen (our Zone Leaders and Elder Badger obviously baptized Tiffany =] )

Sis. Lee, Tiffany, and Me

Tiffany and I right after she was baptized!

So that was our super incredible, miracle baptism!! I was a little sad because we weren't going to be having a baptism my first move call, but, the Lord blessed Sis. Lee and I, and we are so grateful!

My time here in Taiwan is already going so fast! The days are slow sometimes, and I can't believe I am just finishing my first move call, but the weeks are really, truly flying by!!!

I hope everyone is doing so well! I miss you all so much, but am so grateful to be here in Taiwan serving a mission! I know I am here for a reason, and I may not have found that reason yet, and I may not know for years why I am here in Taiwan, but I know I'm here for a reason, and I have faith that the Lord will guide me to those who need me as long as I ask and act!

I love you all!

OH! Pictures!!!!!

I saw this today at the bookstore and almost bought it. It is a camera piggy bank. I wanted to buy it so that when I get back and am saving up to buy me a new camera, I have some motivation. But then I looked at the cost and realized, that is $10 dollars that would be better spend being saved for the new camera then purchasing a piggy bank to save money in =] But, I really wanted it, so much that it made it into my basket and to the check counter =]

That is a bird. Yes, it looks like a small chicken, but no, its a bird. And its huge. And it does fly. And it lives in our mission presidents yard and at the church. I just thought it was fun =]

 Anyways. Love you all lots! Hope you are all well!

-- 

Sis. Busath

Taiwan Taichung Mission

#498-11 Wu Chuan Road

Taichung, 404-46

Taiwan

 

http://www.sisterbusath.blogspot.com/

Week 4 in Taiwan!

Hello all!
I can't believe we are already over halfway done with June!! Time is just flying by! I am on week 5 of 6 weeks of my first move call, and in just 10 short days, my "younger siblings" in the MTC will be here! (They are the group that came in after me in the MTC). I am so excited to see them and to see how they have grown in 6 weeks! I am also super excited to see them do Dan Jones!!

So this past week was a rough week. We didn't have any progressing investigators all week, we didn't add new people (actually, not true, we added 2 self contacts...sort of), we had a few lessons, but more with recent converts than anything. Overall, it was probably the slowest week so far. And we felt bad too because this last week, the invitation from our mission president was to fervently find, and we didn't necessarily succeed in doing that. So, we will do better this week and take every opportunity to talk to people! We desperately need investigators, but we've discovered the only way we will really get them is by finding them (since I got to Tawain, all our new investigators have been self-contacts and we've been so busy with them we haven't needed to go finding). This week the invitation from our mission president is to break our current "add" record. When you add a person, you met them on the street (or call them if they are a referral) and set up a time to meet with them to share a message about the gospel. Seeing as I've only added one person my whole mission so far, it shouldn't be too hard to break that record =] The key is, when talking to people, get them to pull over (if we are bike contacting) or get them to write down their information so we can call them and set up a time to visit them and get to know them. So we really need to work on that this week! So that's a little how our last week went.

Story time!
*Gone to Tanzi #1
*Sister Exchanges - Tanzi #2
*Super prepared investigator, Melody
*Super awesome, hopefully soon to be baptized investigator, Tiffany
*Relief Society Activity
*How is Chinese coming along?
*English Class*


*Gone to Tanzi #1*
So last Tuesday my companion had an all day training meeting. Originally I was told I was going to go to Beitun (the area next to mine, but not in my zone) with a duan chuan (a local member who is a short term missionary) but when I got to the church, they had me be companions with my older sister in the MTC, Sis. Mitchell. Neither of us were prepared for this, and so neither of us had a schedule planned for the day. We decided to go back to her area, Tanzi, and do some work there. So we took a 30 minute bus ride there, planned, ate lunch, visited some members, got back on the bus and went back to get our companions =] That was fun. Except not. I didn't realize how spoiled I was being in Beiqu! Our area is the smallest in the mission, and we hardly have to bike and we walk a lot because everything is so close. In Tanzi, they don't even live in their area, so they have to bike 20 minutes to their area, and then their area is big and so its a ton of biking! Not to mention I wasn't riding my own bike (for anyone who has seen Avatar, our bikes are like the avatar's "things" that they fly...your bike is yours and you hate riding anyone elses!). But thats ok, it was a good experience and I will never complain about being in Beiqu again =]

*Sister Exchanges - Tanzi #2*
So tomorrow is sister exchanges! The sisters in my zone and another zone will be changing companions. The senior companions are all staying in their areas and the junior companions are all moving. And guess where I'm going...back to Tanzi =] I will be with Sis. Mitchell's companion. We leave tomorrow morning, spend the night and come back Wednesday afternoon. So, it will be interesting. I'm excited to see how another missionary chuan's the jiao (preaches). I'll report back next week =]

*Super prepared investigator, Melody*
Melody was a phone referral. She was supposed to come to church last week, but didn't come because of the rain (the Taiwanese don't leave their houses in the rain unless its a life or death situation...it wasn't even raining that bad =] ). We called her and set up with her for this past Tuesday. We came, met her, and it was so incredible! She is so amazingly prepared! She had met the missionaries a long time ago, and when she went to the church to meet them, they weren't there. She didn't have a mobile phone and she was never able to get in contact with them again, until now. She came with some great questions she wanted answered that we were able to help her answer because we have the Book of Mormon and the restored gospel. She accepted a baptismal date of July 21, but we think she will be able to get baptized much sooner than that. She came to church on Sunday and we are pretty sure she loved it (she had to leave early so we didn't get to talk to her about it). The gospel principles lesson was on The Word of Wisdom. She was asking questions, but overall seemed pretty receptive to it =] Can't wait to meet with her again this week!

*Super awesome, hopefully soon to be baptized investigator, Tiffany*
I think I mentioned Tiffany last week. She came to church last week, but only stayed one hour. She seemed super nervous or jittery or something and we were nervous, especially when we called her every day last week and her phone was always off. We were at a relief society activity on Saturday night and our zone leaders called and said, your investigator is at (some other chapel) and so we are just going to do her baptismal interview. Sweet!! (We actually had another investigator [our 7 year eternal investigator] in a baptismal interview at the same time...but she isn't ready to be baptized, and we never see her). So she passed her interview and said she'd see us at church the next day, but she didn't come and her phone is still off. So I don't think she will be getting baptized this weekend, since she hasn't been to church in our ward enough (or for 3 hours) so hopefully the week after that! We are confident she will get baptized this month though!

*Relief Society Activity*
The relief society planned an activity specifically so the sisters in the ward can get to know our recent converts and investigators. Sadly, we don't have any investigators really right now, and the ones we do have couldn't come, but we have a great number of recent converts come! It was a cook off kind of thing, so everyone brought food and it was so good! We felt like we began to build some great relationships with the ward and we really got to know some of the sisters, which was exactly what we needed to have happen!! So, super success in our book! And there were a handful of kids there that my companion and I had so much fun playing with =]

*How is Chinese coming along?*
Great! I've passed off the first thee lessons in my Phase 1 and the mid-term. I'm working on lesson 4 this week, will pass it off on Sunday, then do lesson 5 the following Saturday and the final evaluation the next Sunday. And then I'll be done with Phase 1! So happy! My speaking still isn't great, but my listening comprehension is a lot better. I need to start speaking more Chinese with my companion so my speaking will improve.

*English Class*
I've been meaning to write about English class for weeks. Every week the missionaries teach a free English class. We have a kids class, beginner, intermediate and advanced. And yes, I teach the xiao peng you (kids) class. Its fun but crazy! The kids don't listen all that well, and there isn't any kind of schedule or any kind of program to follow...so, if anyone has any ideas for what I can do to teach kids english (I don't have any resources either...) let me know!

Well, that is about it! I'm super impressed with anyone who reads all my letter =] I hope you enjoy it! If you have any questions, feel free to email my mom and she can ask me them and I'd be happy to answer them!
Thank you all for your love and support! You all are so wonderful!

Here are some pictures:
#1: My little buddy at the Relief Society Activity - We played and played, but he wouldn't come anywhere near me. He even cried when I walked away. So funny!

#2: All the food at the activity! So good!

#3: Our recent convert, Tony (orange shirt) and his mom sitting next to him. We are trying to get her interested in the Church.

#4: The little girl on the far left is our primary president's daughter. I try to get her to like me every week, she is so cute! The other little girl is Sophia. We met her that night and she attached herself to us! She has a twin sister, Sophi =]

#5: Elder Hansen and Chen (our office Elders, and Elder Chen is our district leader). When our eternal investigator showed up, we called them to come do her baptismal interview (we were surprising her and putting her in a baptismal interview =] )

#6: We went to an outdoor market this morning to buy fruit and veggies. So fun!

#7: I got brave and bought shrimp and made it! Super good!!

 

Ok! Love you all! Thanks for all your love and support and letters!!!
--

Sis. Busath

Taiwan Taichung Mission

#498-11 Wu Chuan Road

Taichung, 404-46

Taiwan

Week 3 in Taiwan!

Hello All!

 

This past week has gone by so fast, even without having a preparation day on Monday! I don't even remember what all went on!

 

Last Monday (the last one in May) we had our pinata party. My companion and the elders had been planning it since before I came, so it was much anticipated! The reason for the activity was to get investigators there, and to get more referrals and it worked! We had about 60 people there, and about 22 were investigators! It was so great! We also got 30 referrals from members and investigators, so that was so awesome! We were so happy! I've included some pictures too =]

 

4 elders, 3 investigators, Sister Lee and I

 

At the end of last week, we had 9 investigators with baptismal dates! It was crazy! Sadly, 4 of them dropped us this week =[ BUT! I'm not sad, because that allows us to focus on the invitation our mission president gave us for the month, which is to find FAMILIES! So, by having 4 less investigators, we have time to go tracting and contacting and finding families! We were so crazy busy! We had 8 progressing investigators and another 5 or so people that we met with occasionally. So this has opened up our schedule to allow us to go finding! And I'm so excited! We were referred a great mom who is completely and totally prepared to hear the gospel! She has 3 kids and they are all coming to english tonight, so I am excited to meet them! We also went and met with a less-active mom yesterday whose family isn't baptized. We talked about eternal families and how the gospel has blessed our families and helped our parents parent us. Her mood really changed by the time we were done with our lesson. She said she wants to change and she wants to have her family be an eternal family, so I have a lot of faith in her family as well! We also had another family walk up to the church and said they wanted to get baptized! We taught them about the Book of Mormon but sadly they don't live in our area, but that's ok =]

 

We also had a crazy cochroach infestation last week. We had been killing small little cochroaches every night, but not a huge deal, we had an appointment set up with the bug people to come spray later in June. We woke up one morning and our counter and cupboards and sink and dishes and dry food were all covered in cochroach larvae!!!! It was DISGUSTING! We called the operations elder and asked him to get a bug person out that day. We cleaned out all the cupboards, threw away the food and then went to chuan the jiao (proselyte =] ) We came home and I told Sis. Lee, be prepared for a mass of dead cochroaches all over the floor. And sure enough, there was probably 50-100 dead cochroaches all over our floor. So nasty. But. We've only killed probably 1 a day since they sprayed. Yay!

 

See those white dots? Ya, those are cockroach larve...

The aftermath... Ew.

 

I also passed my Phase 1 Lesson 2 language evaluation! So happy! And we have a sister coming from the MTC to shadow Sis. Lee and I on Sunday. I was part of a pilot program, so the MTC/Church wants to see what kind of impact that's had on me...Pray for me!

 

Sister Lee and I

 

Us with Elder and Sister Liston, the office couple

Practicly everyone in the Taiwan Taizhong Zone!

Today we went to the temple! It was so great! I loved it! It was about a 2 hour bus ride up to Taipei and that was fun =] I got to know the missionaries in our zone, and that was super fun! The temple is such a great place and I love it so much!

 

Me in front of the Temple

Both of us in front of the temple

 

Sorry I don't have much time to write! I have gotten letters from several people and you don't know how much I appreciate it! I was shocked to see that people love me enough to write me paper letters all the way in Taiwan! So thank you!

 

Love you all! Thanks for your prayers, letters and thoughts! All are felts!

 

-Sis. Busath

Taiwan Taichung Mission

#498-11 Wu Chuan Road

Taichung, 404-46

Taiwan

 

Week 2 in Taiwan

Hello Everyone!!!

I've made it another week in Taiwan (well, almost 2 full weeks =] ) And boy have Sis. Lee and I been blessed this week!!! We have seen amazing success, I don't even know where to begin!

So before coming on a mission, I'd heard how, in Taiwan, there are a lot of self contacts: people just walking up to the church saying they want to attend or learn more or get baptized! I didn't really believe it, until this week!!! We had 6 self contacts this week! Granted, 4 of them weren't originally self contacts, but the ended up being =]

-Tuesday, we were at District Training Meeting (DTM) and right after had a appointment set up with a less active we are working with. She came in to our meeting at the end and was like, there is a girl here who wants to talk to the missionaries and learn about the church. Uh...for reals??? So we go and talk with her and she just opens up! It was so amazing! We set up another time to meet with her, but found out she lives in another area, but works in our area. We decided to still met with her on Thursday though. She called us at 10:30 and said she couldn't come then, but could she come at 2? Sure. She called at 2 and said she couldn't come, but could she come at 6? Sure, but we figured she wouldn't really. Well, she did! And we talked with her and she said she had prayed and she loved it! And we gave her a Book of Mormon and was so excited. She was also going to come to church on Sunday, but something came up and she didn't come. Hopefully we can  meet with her this week.

-Monday, there were two elders in the parking lot talking with this group of girls who had come up to them, wanting a picture. The elders didn't really want to take picures with them, so they took pictures with us =] We invited them to English on Wednesday, and they came! Afterwards we talked with them and taught them about prayer and invited them to church on Sunday. And they came! Well, one had to work, but the other three came! We gave them Book of Mormon's and they all seemed pretty interested. We also invited them to be baptized, and while they didn't necessarily say yes, they didn't say no either =]

-Saturday: We were in a meeting with our 10 year old recent convert when a member from another area came in saying there was a lady who wanted to come to church =] So my companion went out to talk to her while I finished our lesson with our RC. The lady had seen the church often and wanted to come, and she did come to church!

So, needless to say, its been a pretty amazing week! We had 7 investigators at church and we have 6 investigators with baptismal dates, and 7 progressing investigators!! It is just all so amazing and Sis. Lee and I are very grateful for the Lord's help in finding all these marvelous people!

I also added (this means that we talked to someone and set up another time to meet with them) all by myself this week! My goal this week was to get over my hatred of the phone. I can speak Chinese ok, but I have a hard time understanding them, especially on the phone because I can't see their lips. So the phone freaks me out. But, we had a lot of referrals to call, so I sucked it up and started calling people. Most people didn't answer, and few call back. We had finished calling them all, and later on, the phone was ringing, but I missed answering it. I looked through our referral cards and found who it was. It was like, 8:30 at night and I didn't feel like calling them back, but I did. And by the end of the converstation, I had set up my first appointment with someone who wasn't already meeting with us, and I was so stoaked! My companion freaked out =] Its great!! So we are meeting with her tomorrow =]

So that's a lot of what we've been up to this week =]

A few other cool things:

We have a deaf family in our ward, and I was noticing on Sunday how different Chinese Sign Language is from ASL. Its kind of funny =]

I got my hair cut today! It was needing it badly, and as much as I loved it super long, it was a bit too long and its been super hot. So I cut about 3 inches off fo it =] Our most recent convert does hair, so I went to her, and she was just so amazing! She was super awesome to us, and didn't charge me full price, yet I still got the head massage/wash, plus a hair cut and she gave me some product for my hair because, oddly enough, my hair is super dry. So that was so fun! I am including a picture =]

Yes, its been super hot here! It hasn't rained since my second day on Island, but it started raining again today. Not a huge deal, but I prefer when it doesn't rain =]

I'm enjoying biking! Our area really isn't that big at all. We rarely bike for more than 5 minutes to get anywhere. If we hit all green lights (which we normally do) it only takes 1 minute to bike to church, and we often bike there and leave our bikes and walk around. We run 3 days a week, around this park, and its about a mile. I don't necessarily mind it, but we go at 6 AM, so I'm never fully awake =]

OH exciting! So the mission has a language program that we do, and it contains 3 phases. Phase 1 is learning vocab and such, and to move onto Phase 2, you have to pass off evaluations for Lessons 1-5 in Preach My Gospel. My goal is to have phase 1 done by the end of my 1st move call (transfer - 6 week period). So, last night I passed off my Lesson 1 evaluation! I was so excited! All the elders in my district were like, you already did lesson 1??  Yes, its so great =] I'm excited to get through phase 1! I don't get to start characters till Phase 3, so thats my motivation to get through Phases 1 and 2 fast!!!

Also excited, our carbon monoxide alarm started going off at 10:10 PM last night. I was sitting in the kitchen writing in my journal and my companion was on the phone with the office elders and it beeped and I went into the room and was like, what was that...The office elder heard it over the phone as well and was like, oh no. I guess it had gone off a few weeks ago too. It went off 3 times and he said to call the mission secretary and her husband, since they live in our building. We did, they came down, gave us their alarm and said if it goes off again, we were going to sleep in their apartment. Thankfully, it never went off again, and we all woke up fine =]

Well, I think that's about all! We are having a Mexican Party tonight complete with a pinata! It is a referral party so we encouraged all the ward members to bring their non-member or less active friends, and we've all invited our investigators, so we hope it goes well. And we are praying that the rain stops! Since the pinata part is supposed to be outside, since our building doesn't have a gym.

Oh and I get to go to the temple next week!! I am so excited! We are going on Wednesday, which means that Wednesday will be my preparation day, not Monday, so no one freak out when you don't get my letter on Monday =]

Thank you all for your love and support! I am so grateful for it! I love being a missionary and I am absolutely loving serving in Taiwan! The Taiwanese people are so amazing!

Love you all!

-Sis. Busath

#498-11 Wu Chuan Road

Taichung, 404-46

Taiwan, ROC

Week 9 in the MTC and Week 1 in Taiwan!

Hello Everyone!!!!!

For starters, I apologize for no letter last week! I will tell you what happened:

So for as long as I was in the MTC, we thought we were leaving on Thursday, May 17th, and were all totally prepared to leave that day. So, Monday of leave week comes, and we are in class, and we all get called to the travel office. The Taipei missionaries were leaving Tuesday and we were like, what if we end up leaving Tuesday as well. We were talking about how crazy that would be, and that we didn't have anything ready or anything like that. So we get to the travel office and they were like, Well, you have had a change in travel plans. We were like...what...when are we leaving, and she said, tomorrow at 8 AM!!! We started to freak out!!!! No one was packed, no one had done laundry, and we were still supposed to have class all evening till 9 PM! So we run back to class, tell our teacher what is going on, and he goes to talk to his boss to see what to do about classes. We ended up staying in class for the rest of that shift, and then we had dinner, called our families to let them know what was going on, and then came a fun time. I had sent a skirt to alterations, and it wasn't going to be ready till Wednesday. Problem, since I was leaving on Tuesday. So I went to the front desk and asked what I could do. They said someone was in Alterations, waiting for a sister to pick up some clothes, so we run, but there wasn't anyone there. We went to the clothing center, and there was a sister there who was able to get security to come open the alterations door for me so I could get my skirt. Problem averted =] So we did laundry that night, were up super late packing, and then were up at 5 AM the next morning, ready to leave at 8! We flew from SLC to LAX (so much better than to Michigan!) and then to Taipei. We had a 3 hour lay-over in LAX so I had time to call my family, and then it was off to Taiwan!

 

Now, before I talk about my first few days in Taiwan, I'll talk about my last week in the MTC.

The two big things besides leaving were my companion, Sis. Taylor, leaving and in-field orientation. So Sis. T ended up getting a temporary assignment to Arizona until her visa comes. It was sad to say goodbye to her, but we've decided that, we are both individually going to be amazing missionaries, so that our mission president will put us together and we can be the dream team =] I can't wait till I get to see her again!

 

The other thing was infield orientation. We spent all of our last Friday in in-field orientation, where they had 6 workshops that we went to all.day.long.....it was from 8 AM to 9:30 PM. It was long, but good =] I enjoyed it.

 

We also had our last Sunday. My generation sang in Church. We sang the EFY medly, in Chinese =] It sounded soooooo good!!! I just love the people I was in the MTC with. They are so wonderful! We also had our last temple walk, where we were able to take a generation picture, as well as tons of other pictures. So wonderful, since we didn't have time our last night, because we didn't know it would be our last night!!!

(Here we are in that Generation Picture.)

(This is my district and I at the "big map")

 

 

Now, the part everyone has been waiting for!!!!

 

TAIWAN!

(Here are all the new Taizhong Missionaries.)

 

The flight over was pretty uneventful. Except for getting to meet Elder Russel M Nelson in the SLC airport. That was pretty great =] My MTC companion, Sis. W, placed a Book of Mormon on the airplane which was pretty cool. When we arrived in Taiwan, we went through customs and what not and went  out to meet our Mission President, President Bishop, and his wife. The assistants were also there as well. We left the airport around 10 PM and arrived at the mission home around midnight. On the bus we all introduced ourselves and filled out a ton of paperwork and such. It was great. There were also 2 others sisters and an elder who came from the Philippines MTC. So that was fun! The sisters all stayed in the Mission home and the elders stayed with the zone leaders. The first day we were up at 6 to go running with the assistants at 6:30! I also knew this was coming and was prepared. It wasn't too bad. The rest of the day was training. We had a great Taiwanese breakfast and we had hot pot for lunch! I was so excited! That night we went out to dinner at a really good Chinese restaurant, and then the event I had been preparing myself for: Dan Jones! Dan Jones was an early Church missionary who went to England (I think...) and he was famous because he converted 1300+ people, and he stood on a stool and preached. So our Dan Jones experience was that we went to a night market area, sang Love at Home, and then stood on a box and bore our testimonies! After that, a more experienced missionary took us and we went contacting! I was so nervous!! I hate talking to people I don't know! But after my sister took me and did the first one, I did the next, and it was so great! We talked to 10-12 people and we got 6 referral cards and I placed a Book of Mormon! It was so fun and I loved it! And in true Taiwan fashion, it was raining, which I heard hadn't happened in a long time =] So after that, it was home and then to sleep =]

 

The next morning was up at 6 again and the assistants picked us up at 6:30 to go running. This time they were timing our mile...so we ran to the stadium, and then they timed us. My goal was 12 minutes, since I had done it in 12 mins at the MTC. I did it in 11! I was so proud of myself, and know I'll only improve from there =] After showering and getting ready, we went to the church where we had breakfast and then it was time to have our last training meeting and meet our trainers!!! So we walk into the church and we are all picked by a missionary to sit with. Sis. Lee picked me. I knew of Sis. Lee because, when I got my call, I googled Taiwan Taichung missionary blogs, and hers was one that I read a lot before my mission. I of course didn't want to sound like a stalker, so I didn't say anything =] Since I had seen her the day before, I was praying that she would be my trainer, especially because President Bishop said she was training. So we had our meeting and at the very end, we were all given hong bao's (red envelopes) that had the name of our trainers. There were 4 sisters, so 4 trainers. The first two went up, and were given their trainers, and neither of them were given Sis. Lee. So then, I knew my chances were good, since the other sister left was a native and the other trainer left was native. We went up at the same time, and my prayers were answered!! Sister Lee was my trainer! She is only here for 2 more moved calls, and so we'll be together until she goes home =] I am so grateful and so blessed to have her as my companion!!!!!

(Here I am with my new companion Sister Lee.)

 

After that, we went to lunch for one last group time, and then it was off to our areas. My area is called Beiqu, and for anyone who knows Taizhong, knows that Beiqu has the mission home in it, which means I didn't have to travel anywhere! It was so great! We live a whole 1 minute bike ride from the mission home/mission office and church. Our whole area takes like, 15 minutes to bike across (its crazy small) but I love it! Its right in the city and reminds me a lot of China. So wonderful! We went to some appointments our first night and we did some tracting as well. While tracting, Sis. Lee let me chose which directions we wanted to go, so we ended up at this park, where there was this super cute ama. We talked with her and shared a short lesson with her, and set up a time to meet with her again this week! I am excited and hope she comes =] And of course, as soon as we finished talking with her, it started to rain. Like, crazy hard! We went and sat for a few minutes, to see if it would lighten up, since we didn't have our rain gear with us, but it didn't. So we ran back to our bikes. And then biked to the church, and we were soaking =] Sis. Lee said it hasn't rained like that all year. I just said it was Heavenly Father's way of testing me to make sure I wouldn't have a bad attitude about it =] Which I didn't. Yes, it was uncomfortable to be super uber wet, but it was fun =] And it wasn't hot so I couldn't complain too much =] We have about 8 investigators and a few potential investigators. We have 3 investigators with baptismal dates and several stellar recent converts! One is a 10 year old boy, and he is just amazing. He is the only member in his family and is just so stellar!

 

(Here I am on my new bike.)

 

This weekend was super weird because we had two other sisters in our area for 3 days because move call and so, while it was crazy, it was a blessing because then Sis. Lee could focus on training me on all sorts of things, while not neglecting our investigators and recent converts. So it really worked out great!!! The left today though, so things will be going back to "normal" now =]

 

Yesterday was my first day at church! Sis. L and I don't sit together at Church, we sit with investigators or recent converts. So I sat with a recent convert who speaks some English, and that was great. We had 4 investigators at church, and 2 potential investigators (who we are meeting with this week!) Sunday school and relief society were great too. I understood much of Sunday School, and some of relief society, but pretty much none of Sacrament meeting. But that's ok. I'm finding I'm doing ok with the langauge. I can understand some, and I'm not afraid to respond if I know what they asked or whatever. Everyone keeps saying how great my Chinese is. Its ok, but I have sooooooo much to improve on!!!

 

Well, I don't know what else to say! I'm so sorry this letter is so crazy long! If you've made it to the end, you are amazing!!!!!

 

Anyone who wrote me a dear elder after last Monday, I'm sorry, but I didn't get it =[

 

But! If you write me in Taiwan, I will write you back! It's super cheap (like 50 cents) to send letters to the States, so I'll totally write people! But don't feel pressured to write =] You can also email my mom a short note at idohair4u@sbcglobal.net and she'll forward it on to me.

 

I love you all so much and am so happy and grateful to have this opportunity to be a missionary in Taiwan! I love you all!!!!

 

 

Oh! And the best part! I can attach pictures now!!!!!!!!!

 

So here are some pictures from the last week in the MTC and the first few days in Taiwan! The file names give a brief explanation of the picture.

(Here I am with Sister Bryce, who grew up with the Busaths in Sacramento.)

 

Love you all!

 

OH! I got a full Chinese name!!! It is Peng2 Ming4 Jie2 (this computer won't let me type the way I know how =[ so I attached a picture). Peng doesn't have a meaning, Ming was given to our whole district and means destiny, and jie means outstanding person =]

 

-Sis. Busath

Taiwan Taichung Mission

#498-11 Wu Chuan Road

Taichung, 404-46

Taiwan